The Planets and The Solar System (Part I)

Hello everyone! I'm back! Sorry for my absence as my time was eaten by chores and errands for the past few days. 

We're been doing a lot of Space and Astronomy activities lately and I wanted to share with you some of our activities.  We started off by reviewing the planets in the Solar System. The cards seen on the picture were from Usborne and while we identify the planets Mavi tried creating models using his plasticine.

(You can check this link to view our past activities)

We also play a game "guess the planet". I adapted this game from the toy which he received last Christmas.  He loves this game! 

I also took out our nomenclature cards and he worked on it as well.  For the link of the file, please click here or the image below.

On a separate day, Mavi tried using playdough to create another set of model planets.

I have to say the second batch look better :)

And just like the project that we did with the Phases of the Moon, Mavi wanted to decorate his room with planets too. And instead of simply painting them on a cardboard, we made a similar approach to this one.

I cut out circles for our planets and covered them with aluminum foil. We color the planets using Sharpies. 

  

And look how they turned out! They are so colorful and looks festive!  I love how it glittered on a black background!

Next step is to plot them into the "space", but since they're still a little bit wet we'll continue the rest of the work by tomorrow.  We'll identify the inner and outer planets, add some asteroids and stars and add labels as well.

           

And there you go!  Ideas for your planets and solar system.  I will share with you how this decor turned out once we're done. 

Happy Monday to all!

For more FREEbies and learning aids, please check The Pinay Homeschooler Shop and Downloads.

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Montessori Inspired Space Themed Learning Activities

We are moving to new things this week as Vito’s interest is starting to be directed more about his body and senses.  For the past few weeks, we’ve been doing work about the moon, the planets, and space.  Here’s a roundup of our activities in learning about the solar system and space in general (in no particular order).

The Space and The Solar System Learning Materials

Happy to share our Space and Solar System Learning Pack which is now available in my shop.  These are so beautiful!  I made the cards years ago and Mavi has been frequently using them, especially in finding inspirations in his drawings.

The Solar System

We made use of our old learning materials in our Solar System activities.  These planets were printed 2011 and I totally forgot where I got it from.  In case you own the file or knows the link just leave me a comment so I can add it up. 

Here, Mavi is putting the planets in order while singing his Solar System song learned in his Montessori school.

We started using the fact book which I made.  My son loves learning the difference between the planets and always compare Jupiter (windy and stormy planet) to our place LOL.

Here’s where you can get the Space and Solar System pack which I made.  Aside from the Solar System it also includes Astronomy Cards and Fact Books.  

        

            

This coloring sheet of the Solar System was taken from The Helpful Garden (I love this blog!). Books we used:

Linking to:

Solar System and Space Preschool Mini Unit

Introducing our SPACE MINI UNIT for kids from 3-5 years of age! Lots of hands-on learning activities!

 

Sparkly Planets for your Solar System

We’ve done this before (in 2013) and we made another one again! Creating our planets for our solar system using aluminium foil. Have done this before?  I mentioned the source of this activity in my previous post, read it here.

Guide to Space and Heavenly Bodies Study for Kids (with FREE Resources)

I’ve been planning this unit since last month because I wanted to prepare ahead of time. We’ve done A LOT of space and heavenly bodies unit in the past and I wanted to upgrade the lesson, add something new for Mavi to learn.  So right now, I’m sharing our Space and Heavenly Bodies Study for this year. I’m also putting a bunch of links from our previous lessons and activities for your reference. I hope you find this post helpful.

Space and Solar System

               
Solar System and Planets Part I
Solar System and Planets Part II
Planets and Solar System for Preschoolers
Moon Phases

        
The Moon
Phases of the Moon
A look at the Northern and Southern Sky
We looked into the star constellation maps seen in the northern and southern hemisphere.  This is to make Mavi aware that there are stars that can be seen in the northern part of the world but not visible on the other side.

                   
Stars and Constellations
For the details of our constellation study, click here or click the image below.  The material we used here is the Fantacolor pegboard.
Space Exploration History
I made chronological cards of the space exploration history.  The pictures and the fact cards were all taken and referenced from Wikipedia and Wiki Commons.  Though Mavi can read this straight from the site, I wanted to have something tangible and something that we can work on, like arranging the timeline and matching it with objects.

The cards I created contains the year and a title of the major event that occurred in that year.  The description is very much readable by kids though there were a few words that Mavi couldn’t pronounce well or he needed to ask me for the meaning.  Such a good material to improve reading skills, spelling and vocabulary!
After which, I showed him how we can arrange the cards according to their timeline.  This gives him a visual presentation of the order of events. 

Aside from arranging the cards chronologically, you can also use them to match objects.  Here we used Safari Toobs Space, Safari Toob Insects (fly) and Safari Toob Farm (dog).

So if you wanted to have a copy of the cards for Space History Timeline, click here for the link.
Parts of a Space Shuttle
The parts of a space shuttle is something that Mavi really looked forward to.  Oh boy he was so happy that I made him another “flying object”.  The first one was the Airplane Nomenclature Cards, and here’s the newest Space Shuttle Nomenclature Cards.  This is based on the NASA’s space shuttle design.  Using the cards, a child will learn the different parts of a space shuttle.  I wrote the parts’ functions in a notebook because I was out of ink.

To get a copy of the Space Shuttle Nomenclature Cards, click here.
Sensory Tub
Now, this is something I prepared for both of the boys to play with.  Xavi had his own Letter S: Star Unit study last week so it was timely that I prepared this Space Sensory Tub for the boys.  Figures are from Safari Toob Space, homemade PlayDoh planets and homemade Earth felt.

Introducing the Solar System to Preschoolers

In line with our Days of Creation activities, the boys and I talked about how the universe came to be.  Mavi used his Usborne Fact Cards once again to review some solar system concepts and this made Vito get into the mood of exploring the planets as well.  

Solar System and Astronomy Cards

(Click the image for the link)

Due to some request, I made a copy of my Solar System and Astronomy Cards at Sellfy.  The file is now up!  It is composed of two files: 

• Solar System Nomenclature Cards and Definition Booklet
• Space and Astronomy Nomenclature Cards and Definition Booklet
• FREE Planet GUIDE

The file is available for only 1.50USD, so affordable isn't it?! 

Grab a copy now!

For more FREEbies and learning aids, please check The Pinay Homeschooler Shop and Downloads.

Planets on Strings

I love how this little project turned out, though initially I wanted to paint the planets like what we last year but my son insisted that we should use his oil pastels.  This simple planet mobile is so easy to do and would make a lovely decor in your kids room if done correctly.

First, I made circles using my compass and cut them to be used as our planets in the mobile. I made different sizes to make it more believable.

Afterwards, we color our circles on both sides.  Mavi used his oil pastels as he is fond of them.  I am not really a fan of pastels as they can get really messy with the hands, but my son loves them, probably because it produces more vivid color than crayons.

Now each of the planet will hang from the paper plate using a string.  We attached each string using a sticky tape and position them accordingly on the plate.  To add more effect, the strings should have different lengths.

Here’s our finished product :)  It turned out to be a plain simple mobile, it would have been better if we really painted the circles to make them more eye catching.  However, the little one was so happy with his work.  He was really proud of what he had accomplished.  We placed this in our hallway and he would sing his Solar System song whenever he passed by under it :)  So cute.

Don’t miss out my Space and Solar System Cards! We used them as well during our Solar System lesson, will talk about it on my next post :)

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The Solar System and The Planets II

My son completed his mini project of our Solar System unit and he finally got to display it in his room.  It was a simple project for my 5 years old, something that I made him work during the midterm break.

I mentioned this previously in my post that we're going to plot the planets in a black craft paper.  First thing, he placed all the INNER PLANETS.  My son memorizes the order so I made he did all the work here.  I decided that it would be best to label the planets so he can memorize the spelling.

As you can see, we added "asteroids"  after Mars.

 

Then he continued with the OUTER PLANETS.

 

When everything is in place, he added stars (stickers).

And we both stick it on the wall using blutacks. And look how pretty it is! He was so happy how it turned out.  He felt proud of what he has accomplished! And I have to say that the use of foil in planets made such a huge difference!!  Now this is art and learning combined :)

Linking to:

Montessori Monday
TGIF Linky Party
Teach Beside Me
Preschool Corner
Teaching Mama
I Can Teach My Child
Home + School = Afterschool!
Natural Homeschool's Montessori Linky